By what method does a person begin the process toward radical self-acceptance?
This is not the justification of faults or the denial that they exist. It is not the projection of negativity onto others to distract from the work of reconciling the root cause of negativity within oneself. It is not the maintenance of the status quo to keep the self in a state of self-deception.
“If we are to heal and become healthy we will do so by building up our strengths. We will need to draw upon our inner fortitude, resilience, and endurance. We will need to tap into our industriousness and creativity. We will need to avail ourselves of our innate sense of justice as well as our proclivity for acceptance.”
— Dr. Joy DeGruy
Of and among the people,
shunned and denied
by those who choose to close their eyes.
Understood by the many
who are afraid to speak of freedom.
Underground Railroad–type conversations,
in whispers and hushed tones.
Of a potentiated Afro American-futurism,
beyond the shores
of surrealist imagery—
a land made manifest,
full of possibilities.
What we mean when we talk about radical self-acceptance is the true understanding of the self and how to grow beyond the mental and emotional dissonance one feels—the healing of past traumas and the push toward creating a worthy and progressive ideal for the self and others.
Radical self-acceptance and the reconstruction of Black identity is the goal. Too often we begin a venture without a framework—not because we are ignorant, but because there isn’t a functional blueprint to follow.
“Throughout history, the powers of single Black men flash here and there like falling stars, and die sometimes before the world has rightly gauged their brightness.”
— W.E.B. Du Bois
There have always been many ideas on how to collectively move toward an ideal that is worthy and progressive, but few have been transformative because they require collective action—collective action from people who have experienced generations of trauma and the tearing down of intrinsic and extrinsic social capital. It can and will be hard to bring together those who have been conditioned to anticipate that their efforts are futile, because they expect their organizing will be dismantled by a state that sees their unity as a threat.
“The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land. Whatever of good may have come in these years of change, the shadow of a deep disappointment rests on the Negro people—a disappointment all the more bitter because the unattained ideal was unbounded save by the simple ignorance of a lowly people.”
— W.E.B. Du Bois
By what method does a person begin the process toward radical self-acceptance? How do we fight against the nihilistic threat that engulfs the Black being—one that forces him or her to succumb to the ornamentalization of their ontological self? Said differently, how do we refuse the threat of seeing life as meaningless and resist becoming the inanimate object society forces us to be?
West posits that "nihilism is not overcome by argument or analysis; it is tamed by love and care. Any disease of the soul must be conquered by a turning of one’s soul. This turning is done through one’s own affirmation of worth—an affirmation fueled by the concern of others. “A love ethic must be at the center of the politics of conversion.”
What, then, are the politics of conversion? What is its currency? How is it used, and what value does it have in the creation of a worthy and progressive ideal? The love ethic at the center of the politics of conversion has nothing to do with sentimental feelings or tribal connections. It is the method by which we begin the process of radical self-acceptance. It is how we fight against the nihilistic threat and make efforts to reach the end goal of reconstructing Black identity into a self-concept cleansed of the negative ideologies that have attempted to turn us into inferiorized beings.
On the creation
of a new love ethic,
ushered in by
the grassroots intellectual—
of and for the people,
created by the conditions
we all suffer from,
the conditions
that are forced to suffer with.
DeGruy, J. (2005). Post traumatic slave syndrome. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Traumatic_Slave_Syndrome
Montmarquet, J. A., & Hardy, W. H. (2000). Reflections An Anthology of African American Philosophy. http://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA65356223
Add comment
Comments